Ditka Finally Decides to Call Upon His Cub to Help the Bears

First there was the grizzly Bear. Or grisly, maybe. He wore shades and headbands, guzzled beer, hassled his bosses, mooned passing helicopters and appeared to style his hair by moisturizing his hands and then sticking his fingers into electrical sockets. The name: Jim McMahon.

Then there was the stuffed Bear. He was well over 300 pounds-- well over 300 pounds--and had a missing tooth, a funny waddle and the general disposition of Foghorn Leghorn. The name: William (The Refrigerator) Perry.

Now, make room for the gummy Bear. Rootie toot tootie, here comes Flutie.

Clear the shelves at Chicago department stores. Shove those Fridge dolls over to the side. This Christmas in the Loop, look out for a last-minute run on itty-bitty toy Bears with No. 2 on their jerseys. That little cutie Doug Flutie is about to capture Chicago’s hearts.

Flutie came into Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the second period, in a freezing drizzle, and brought Soldier Field to attention. He had never played in a football game there before, so he wanted to make a good impression.

The first thing Flutie did was engineer a touchdown drive capped by Thomas Sanders’ nine-yard run. The second thing he did was score himself on a four-yard bootleg. And the big thing he did was launch a 52-yard pass to Willie Gault--one that traveled close to 65 yards in the air--followed by a beautiful, rolling-to-his-left 27-yard scoring pass to Walter Payton.

Flutie’s work propelled the Bears to a 48-14 victory, and put him in the picture to lead the Bears in their bid for another Super Bowl championship. Like another of the NFC’s great teams, the Rams, the Bears find themselves with a quarterback who was not even with the team when training camp broke.

Flutie, the 5-foot 9-inch Heisman Trophy winner from Boston College and former United States Football League quarterback, was a man without a team until the Bears treated him like a Cabbage Patch doll, adopting him. Now, with McMahon hurt and out for the season, Flutie might be ready to supplant Mike Tomczak as Chicago’s starting quarterback.

Coach Mike Ditka is playing it coy. “Aw, you don’t need to know that,” Ditka said, when asked if Flutie would start next Monday’s game with Detroit. “That’ll be Wednesday’s story.”

Tomczak did return to Sunday’s game and play well, but not before being bawled out by Ditka for a costly fumble. And Ditka has long been acknowledged as a Flutie man. It was his idea to bring Flutie to the team, even though the Bears already had three quarterbacks, and even though McMahon publicly disapproved.

Flutie, too, is choosing his words carefully. “I just wanted to prove my worth to the team,” he said after his big day. “I don’t plan on taking over or anything like that.”

Already, though, minds are racing. Including minds in Anaheim, where Flutie’s performance Sunday would have galled Ram fans had Jim Everett not entered the picture recently. There was a time, earlier in the season, when the Rams were begged by some to bring Flutie into their scrambled quarterback picture.

Now, who knows? If Flutie turns out to be the real thing, maybe the other Los Angeles team will benefit. McMahon has said many times, including in his book, that he would prefer to be playing for the Raiders. His new buddy, Oklahoma linebacker Brian Bosworth, made that point again Sunday on national television, saying McMahon would rather play for the Raiders than be “stuck in Chicago.”

Maybe McMahon will continue hurling insults at Bear President Mike McCaskey and Ditka until they accommodate him. Lester Hayes and Marc Wilson to the Windy City, anyone? Just a thought.

Flutie’s performance was good enough to make people conjure up such crazy ideas. Ditka watched that bomb to Gault and came away saying: “I don’t know how a guy 5-9 can throw a ball 65 yards in the air. It must have been a mirage.”

Flutie himself had to admit: “Not too shabby.”

Ditka insisted that he decided two weeks ago what he intended to do by the end of the season, and that he entered Sunday’s game knowing that he would insert Flutie at that juncture. He did not, he swore, replace Tomczak because of the fumble. Uh huh. Anything you say, Iron Mike.

Ditka said he knows whether or not he sees Flutie starting for the Bears in the playoffs, but it’s a secret and “that’s the way I’m gonna keep it.” Uh huh.

“If we alternate them every play, who cares, as long as we win,” Ditka added.

That’s what they said once when you were an assistant at Dallas, Coach.

Flutie, who had yet to complete a pass in an NFL game until Sunday, was relieved merely to do something positive. “You can earn respect on the practice field, but you don’t really earn it all the way until you do something in a game.”

Does he hope to be the starter in the playoffs?

“Well, let’s just say I hope to make my bid for it,” Flutie said.

Chicago, home of the Bears, suddenly has another cub.